Major Energy Companies Begin Work on Blockchain Pilot

BTL, a blockchain solution provider, said Tuesday it is working with a group of leading energy companies, including Wien Energie GmbH, Austria’s largest regional energy company, on a blockchain pilot using BTL’s Interbit platform.

According to BTL, the goal of the project is to demonstrate how BTL’s technology can significantly drive down costs associated with energy trading.

“Blockchain technology is a further digitization trend in the energy industry,” said Wien Energie’s Chairman, Michael Strebl. “As Austria’s largest energy service provider, we want to actively make use of the technology and its chances for our customers and us.”

“The energy industry has a complex ecosystem with a myriad of business lines from raw material exploration to electricity generation and delivery,” said Guy Halford-Thompson, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of BTL. “Currently, record keeping and data management are incredibly cumbersome leading to costly mistakes when it comes to trading energy products and tracking asset ownership.”

The pilot project is being supported by global consultancy firm EY and is expected to run for three months, from March to May 2017, after which further commercial strategies will be assessed.